Yesterday, Friday 22nd April 2016, a formal communication was received from UEFA stating that they are investigating a possible anti-doping rule violation by Mamadou Sakho. The player will respond to UEFA on the matter. The player is currently not subject to any playing suspension. However, the club, in consultation with the player, has decided that while this process is followed the player will not be available for selection for matches. There will be no further comment at this time
I reckon the club don't want to back the player only to find out later he gets found guilty like over the Suarez incident.
It was already out though, in the French media. Once it came out they were pretty much forced to address it. It would've been obvious if he wasn't in the squad anyway!
He'll probably get a short ban and nothing will happen to the club, if the reports of what he was taking and why are accurate. It's some sort of fat-burning supplement and he didn't realise that it was on the banned list. Bit of this season and the start of the next, I'd have thought.
Ever get the feeling with this club in the modern era that it's just a constant cycle of **** hitting the fan ?! Gonna wait for more info before berating the guy, it could be accidental where he's taken something he thought was alright to take and it wasn't ... does happen like that sometimes ... the cynic in me of course screams idiot at that argument. Not like he'll be the only player on some sort of juice or gas though, he's just ****ed up either what he takes or in hiding it from the testers
Will wait and see. Could be anything from coke to using the wrong type of headache tablets. Sport bodies and the CAS are pretty strict liability about this sort of thing so the actual blameworthiness of the player might be a moot point. EDIT: Just seen above... if it's a fat burner he (or his coach) really should've known better and he'll definitely get a ban.
6 month ban Manchester City defender Kolo Toure will miss the start of next season after being handed a six-month ban from all football for failing a drugs test. The ban is back-dated to 2 March, when Toure's provisional suspension began. He is free to play from 2 September, but will also be target-tested for a period of two years from 26 May. "This has been a difficult period, and I am sad to have missed the team's triumph of securing Champions League football and the FA Cup," Toure said. "But I am relieved that I will be able to return to football in September and thank the FA's commission for their understanding." An independent regulatory commission, which could have issued anything from a warning to a two-year ban by way of punishment, reached the verdict after a hearing on Thursday. Toure admitted the offence - his first - contrary to Regulation 3 of the FA Doping Regulations 2010-11. But the panel took into consideration the circumstances behind his use of water tablets belonging to his wife. On 4 March, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger - who brought Toure to England by signing him - revealed: "He wants to control his weight a little bit because that's where he has some problems and he took the product of his wife. "He is a boy that has a clean life, a very honest living. I just think it is a mistake." Headed up by Christopher Quinlan QC, the commission were satisfied Toure did not intend to enhance sporting performance or to mask the use of a performance-enhancing substance. Man City's QC Adam Lewis suggested the ban should be no longer than three months but the FA commission disagreed. Quinlan said: "The criterion in assessing any reduction in what would otherwise be the minimum penalty of two years' suspension is the player's degree of fault. The player accepted he was at fault and with that concession we agree. "He was at fault in the limited and perfunctory efforts he made in relation to the water tablets; the checks he made in relation to those tablets were inadequate and fell some way below what it would be reasonable to expect of a professional footballer in these circumstances. "In fixing the appropriate period of suspension we had regard to all the relevant matters we have read and heard during the course of the hearing. "The period of suspension suggested by Mr Lewis QC was one not in excess of three months. With respect, we disagree. In our judgment, the appropriate period of suspension is one of six months commencing on 2 March 2011." The ruling means he cannot participate in any football match or any other football-related activity other than anti-doping education or rehabilitation programmes, until his ban expires. The decision completes a nightmare season for Toure, which began with him losing the Manchester City captaincy to Carlos Tevez on 18 August. Toure was tested at the Manchester derby in February, when he was an unused substitute. The Ivory Coast defender was suspended on 3 March after his A-sample tested positive for "a specified substance". Toure is under contract with City until the summer of 2013. He was one of several high-profile arrivals in the summer of 2009 as then-manager Mark Hughes spent more than £100m on new players.
Very similar to the Toure incident, in which he got banned for 6 months. So I guess it'll be something similar.
"Other important issue re Sakho. This is a player charge and #LFC will face no repercussions by UEFA as a club" So no issue with us or result for Europa.
They can afford to wait, they'll bring the hammer down on the club in may for the man yoo charges and the flare in Dortmund.
